Parental Co-Use of Media Technology with their Young Children in the USA

Abstract

Recent policy recommendations encourage parents to co-use media technology with their young children. However, we know little about what factors predict parents' co-use across the multiple types of media technology families own. Using a US nationally representative sample of 2,326 parents of children aged 8 and under, this study examines factors associated with parent–child co-use across six types of media: books, TV, computers, video games, tablets, and smartphones. Results indicate that parents are more likely to co-use traditional media such as books and television, whereas they are least likely to co-use video games. Results also suggest that media co-use may be a function of parental availability and parents' time spent with media, as well as parent demographics such as parents' age, gender, ethnicity, and level of education, and child demographics such as child age and gender. Results have implications for creating more targeted parental interventions to encourage media co-use.